Chapter 9
Saer summoned the Daemoenica after he and Neyu carried Lucifer to sag on Its throne. “Teach them, my Saerkhanum,” he’d been commanded. “And return here when you’re finished.”
Down one of the original corridors, Saer gathered patches of Hellsfire into a conglomerate immolation, a bonfire for the Seven to gather around. Neyu left to gather the rest.
The Twins arrived first and placed six boulders about the flames so they might all sit if so inclined. Only six, because Arek and Alus found an expansive one to share.
Greed and Gluttony lounged on their rocky slab, prodding and muttering under their collective breaths to one another. Arek punched Alus in the shoulder in response to some particular jibe, earning a full-throated, bestial laugh in return.
After so long a separation from his kin, the Twins brought a sense of familial lightheartedness to the rest of the Daemoenica by virtue of simply being. Saer held back the impulse to chuckle alongside them.
The fresh born Kalia plopped on a seat next, and Errshek beside her after a moment of indecision. Runeak stood near the fire, pushing and pulling on the blaze with her fingertips.
Saer looked at them each in turn, all Seven, gathered together at last. Runeak—Wrath, Arek and Alus—Greed and Gluttony, Errshek—Envy, and finally Kalia—Sloth.
Neyu—Lust—came last, and he watched her every elegant motion as her steps consumed the space between them.
She moved straight towards Pride, and he allowed instinct to take over, extending a clawed hand to his match. The squeezing anticipation in Saer’s chest lightened—even as his heart rate sped up—when she slid her palm over his. No hesitation.
Her nearness settled something within that enticed and terrified him all at once. Energy hummed in the stare they held, and it was Neyu who offered a reassuring and warm growl before turning towards their family.
“Have any but Areknar and I been to the surface?” Saer asked.
The Twins and Errshek shook their heads while Kalia propped her chin on her hand. Runeak didn’t grace him with any form of an answer.
Saer shifted his attention to Greed. “What did you teach them?”
Cynicism lifted one of Arek’s brows. “Everyone but Kalia knows what to expect.”
By what little attention Kalia gave them, she apparently didn’t care one way or the other. Arek’s vague answer still needled at him. “You discussed the environment, the cold, the absence of Hellsfire, the humans—”
“Eldest,” Alus’s warm voice stopped Saer, taking away the sting of any rudeness his interruption might have shown otherwise. “Violet gave us the best recounting he could.”
Arek’s lavender eyes rolled, the only indication that he didn’t appreciate his twin’s nickname, but still answered with brusque pragmatism. “I’ll tell Kalia what the others have heard if you fill in what I miss.”
Saer considered, then made an as-you-will gesture.
Arek angled towards the youngest Daemoenic, though his words found all their ears.
Odd, that Greed himself made an excellent teacher. Saer found minor points to clarify or add to, but the attention to detail Arek housed and relayed was nothing short of impressive.
Once his twin finished, Alus turned his focus on Saer. “Tell us the rest so we can get out of here and see it?”
The eager light in Gluttony’s expression reminded Saer of his particular sin, the desire for more. An abundance of more.
A soft noise lifted in the back of Saer’s throat, and he glanced at Neyu, squeezing her hand.
“The aspects we’re made from—we can manipulate them when humans experience them, and use this advantage to take their spirits.
” The memory of wrenching on Asheda’s pride played in his mind’s eye—the addicting power.
Neyu gave a slow nod.
“A human must promise their spirit to you before you can take it in death,” Saer finished, quieter.
Even Kalia perked a small amount. Errshek allowed a bitter laugh to escape him before cutting it off with more mumbling under his breath.
“Something to say, Errsheken?”
Envy scowled at Saer’s query, but Kalia answered for him. “He said he can’t wait to make humanity just as miserable as he is.”
The tattling earned her a wide-eyed look from Errshek. “You just got here. Really?”
Runeak remained unfazed through their bickering, endlessly staring into the central blaze. The Twins had taken to speaking in low tones, already strategizing.
Neyu gave Saer a gentle tug so she could nudge her nose to his jawline and murmur into his ear, “I feared I wouldn’t see you again.”
Saer’s eyes fluttered shut, but he didn’t allow any other emotion to show on his face.
Instead, he curled his other arm across his body and rested his palm over hers, relishing the contact.
He turned his face towards her, only enough so she could feel his breath on her cheek, hear the sincerity in his quiet words. “I missed you, too.”
“We will require human skins to infiltrate.” This deadpan musing came from Runeak. Saer pivoted his focus to her.
Runeak’s unwavering stare remained on the fire. “Creating our alternate forms will weaken him further.”
Him. Lucifer.
“And we’re responsible for and capable of restoring our maker,” Saer answered. “The energy will be returned.”
Runeak offered a subtle head tilt, hardly discernible in the flickering firelight. “He could subsume the youngest ones. They contribute little.”
Errshek sputtered, voice cracking. “You refuse any help I offer! Neyu is the only one who accepts me at her side.”
So, that was why Errshek accompanied Neyu upon his arrival. Saer shot a glance her way, though Lust only carried a sad smile on her lips for Envy.
Runeak answered without thought or feeling, “Because you are not good at it.”
“And should they be insufficient to restore our maker, are you volunteering as the next in line, Runeakael?” Saer didn’t hide his impatience.
Neyu touched Saer’s elbow and she shifted forward, partway between the First and the Fifth.
“Stop.” The demoness moved further so she could rest a reassuring hand on Errshek’s tense shoulder.
“There’ll be no sacrifices today. Errshek is as eager to please as the rest of us.
” She lifted her other hand and touched Kalia’s jaw in a calming gesture.
“Kalia hasn’t been given opportunity. Regardless, these are not our calls to make. ”
Wrath made a noncommittal noise as though it mattered little, but Saer knew for Runeak to back down from confrontation, respect must hold strong.
Errshek gazed upon Neyu with relieved thanks. He moved to touch her hand on his shoulder, but Neyu returned to Saer’s side.
Envy curled his claw into a fist, a hint of resentment pinching the Sixth’s face.
Easy enough for Saer to dismiss.
“Errsheken, you will go with Kaliaspher.”
Errshek’s lower jaw jutted forward, displeased, but he nodded as Kalia stretched out next to him.
Saer pivoted to the Twins next, the obvious pair, but Alus half-chuckled and waved him off. “We got it, Boss.”
Fighting his own smirk, Saer shifted his gaze to Runeak who shook her head. “I require no partner.”
Precisely as he’d hoped. A fluttering swirled in his stomach as he turned his attention to Neyu. She offered a soft incline of the head, and it was all he needed.
The Daemoenica knelt at the foot of Lucifer’s dais.
Though high above and slumped over Its throne, Lucifer’s voice carried to them like a flutter of dark butterfly wings. “I require blood from each of you to complete your secondary forms.”
Neyu stilled next to him. A small, frightened sound escaped Kalia. Or was it Errshek?
Lucifer shifted to lean on the opposite arm of Its magnificent throne. “My Daemoenica, I had hoped—” Their maker stopped to catch Its breath. “You are the first of my army. One day, you will command others, and we will take back the Heavens. To do that, you all must learn to fight.”
A spike of anxiety threaded up Saer’s spine. Lucifer alluded to such before, when he’d commanded Runeak to construct the arena. He’d forgotten.
The fallen angel lifted Its chin to the sparring ring behind them. “Saerkhanum, as my First and their leader, you will begin.”
Saer’s brow furrowed. “You wish us to fight one another, Master?”
“Each will fight you, one after the other.”
Anxiety spiraled into gut-churning dread, warring with the innate need to please his maker. One after the other, which meant Neyu—
“Step into the ring, my Saerkhanum.”
He bit back his growl, rising and approaching the ring’s edge.
Runeak’s expansive, circular arena boasted endless swathes of gray stone, serving as both floor and border which she’d polished to a fine sheen.
Pillars of ever-burning flames stood at four sites around the circle, casting heat and dancing shadows.
Further patches of fire lined the sparring ring, brightening the space beyond the usual shadows of Hell.
“Kaliaspher,” Lucifer called.
Saer shut his eyes.
“You will go against Saerkhanum first.”
Saer’s ash-skinned, littlest sister shuffled into the ring with a fearful eye on Saer, her body language closed off and slumped.
“Begin,” Lucifer said.
They’d taken an oath to obey.
They began.
Saer lunged forward at half-speed, and Kalia shrieked, ducking and rolling with little grace.
He pivoted in an attempt to snare her leg, and she kicked out and away.
Sloth herself evaded more than fought, but put Saer through his paces, showing him the advantage of her diminutive—in comparison to his—size.
The First’s experiences with violence had been brief and deplorable, and he didn’t want to harm her.
Kalia held no concept of tactics, nor etiquette.
The opening moments of their clash proved staggered, hesitant, and graceless.
“Stop.”
The First and the Seventh ceased immediately, and raised their gazes to Lucifer’s glowering. The lines in their maker’s face etched deep, Its eyes bled to the black of midnight, and a shiver coursed up Saer’s back.